Award Winners

“Tackling subjects familiar to all of us, that of being othered and misunderstood, of bullying and of friendship, ‘Precious’ skilfully handles the sensitive narrative with subtlety and a gentleness of expression. The story presents complex layers of social forces in a seemingly simple narrative. The gentle pace, quiet atmosphere and minimalism of the Mise en Scène, not only gives a sense of isolation, but holds the attention of the viewer, pulling them closer to evoke a deeper sense of empathy. Through the story, there is gradual accumulation of pressure and tension borne by the protagonist as the masterfully constructed narrative presents her painful lessons, yet leaves the viewer to wonder whether the experience has changed her for the better or for the worse. “Precious” is a timeless animation that touched us all and kept us thinking.”

Special Mention:

“‘Only a Child’ deserves the honour of receiving the Special Mention of the 28th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, because it is a collaborative project, celebrating the plethora of designs, styles, and techniques, that a century of animation has brought to the World. By adding animation to an important voice from the past, ‘Only a Child’ reminds us all, that only by believing in and acting as one responsible global community, there is a way forward for humanity on earth.
Some may comment that ‘Only a Child’ is part of a campaign, but this campaign, this movement, that unites young people across countries, cultures, and nationalities, is exactly what we need right now, to understand how humanity can succeed in the great game of evolution.

In ‘Have a Nice Dog!’ we are dragged into a waking nightmare, a reality for many people in the world, but which is unimaginable to most. This is therefore an extremely valuable story, told in imaginative ways to express the horrors of war and the desperation of fleeing in an over-crowded rubber dinghy. This is an uncomfortable film to watch. The deformed characters, the woozy, morphing visions. The world appears to be made from fragile paper-mâché, cut-up and distorted. This is Guernica of a modern age, where dreams are Facebook posts and nightmares are at your door. This intelligent film is full of visual metaphors that intensify the viewers interest with every revisit. The aesthetic choices creatively express the confusion, compounding terror and the sense of hopelessness. The Jury found ‘Have a Nice Dog!’ to be a highly impressive and important film.

Special Mention:

“Our special mention goes to ‘I’m here’. The film has a clever film language that never let’s us look away from the main character. While life is moving around her she is always in the centre of our view, and with a minimalistic expression she, and the film, still expresses incredible emotional depth. The jury found this film very touching and empathetic. A film sensitive and intelligently told, cutting into our deepest fears and emotions about death and loss.

„A disturbing exploration of a man’s deteriorating psychological state caused by the ravages of war.
Boldly drawing a dotted line between war and the refugee crisis, the film follows the disintegration of the wall between reality and nightmare, leading to isolation and the search for escape that is forever elusive. ‘Have a Nice Dog!’ is layered, atmospheric, visually and emotionally full of grit. It often toys with the right juxtaposition of dynamism and phantasmagorical imagery. However, its real mastery is in its coherence articulation of the consequence of war on the individual. The sound design is bold and its absorbing parallel narratives and scenic nuances will yield on repeat festival viewings.”

Special Mention:

„A light-hearted, finely animated, somewhat ironic look at the sudden emergence of puberty in a young choirboy. Playing with the simple metaphor of the protagonist losing his voice, ‘The Song of a Lost Boy’ is a well- crafted, sublime use of puppetry, light, movement and sound to illustrates themes of self-discovery and “finding your own voice.” It does all this while heavily leaning on themes of the divine with post-futuristic apocalyptic tropes, and it works.”

“‘WolfWalkers’ is the third in a series of animated films by Tomm Moore in which Irish-Celtic motifs from art and myth are translated into stylish animated films. For us, this film, which he directed with Ross Stewart, represents a new high point in this series because it now adds depth to the level, ornamental style without appearing conventional. Almost every shot could be a painting in itself. The cooler colours of the city and interiors contrast with the intoxicating colours of autumnal nature. And even the special perception of the world of wolves, who sense smells much more strongly than humans, is visualized in a surprising and convincing way and the feeling of walking on four legs through the dynamic camera movements. The score and the song about the wolves are the perfect accompaniment. With just a few strokes and excellent voice acting, four strong characters are depicted in a drama about life and death: the foreign English girl who wants to escape the preordained role as a servant, the funny, wild nature girl who needs help and friendship so much, the father, torn between duty to the Lord Protector Cromwell and concern for the disobedient daughter and Cromwell, who does what he believes is his job: to bring order and economic progress to Ireland, which also means to tame and subjugate nature, and, should it not be possible, to destroy it. All this is told in this film at an increasing pace leading up to a furious showdown which breathlessly carries away and emotionally touches the audience, children and adults alike. In the guise of a semi-historical fantasy film, a highly topical message is conveyed to us, namely that we must rethink our relationship to nature. That we must dare to allow wilderness – and also wildness – into our hearts. With the wolves, the filmmakers have chosen the perfect symbol for this message.”

Special Mention:

“’Josep’ by the director and illustrator Aurel sheds light on a largely unknown chapter from the time of European fascism: the fate of the Catalan illustrator Josep Bartoli, who, fleeing from Franco, is imprisoned in a French concentration camp where hunger, disease and violence reign. In a half-documentary, half-fictional narrative framework that spans its arc to the present day, the film portrays one of the former camp guards, who tells his grandson about his friendship with the painter on his deathbed.

The film is appropriately complex in its design, both through the different layers of the narrative and in the artwork, which in the biographical flashbacks is largely based on the impressive drawings by Bartoli, which he made in the camp. The somber, often sketchy, still images of captivity are followed at the end by scenes in the bright, warm colors of Mexican exile.

‘Josep’ surprises with many historical details, it shocks, moves and stimulates reflection, about European history, xenophobia, about courage in difficult times – and about the role of art.”

“Climate change is one of the biggest issues we’ll be facing in the coming decades. Melting glaciers and rising sea levels are just a few of the countless facets which comes along by global warming. Times are changing and many of us won’t have the same environments and societies anymore as they used to know. In order to survive, people need to leave their beloved homelands, so it is the job of the privileged ones to help them to find their new places in our community. Once more the key is cohesion instead of supremacy to overcome this challenge, because we’re all on the same raft.
That’s why the jury chooses ‘Migrants’ as the winner of the Trickstar Nature Award 2021.
This film convinced us not only how the story showing the many levels of this frightening topic. But also in which unique style the film was realized. The film is warming but simultaneously uncomfortable. He is touching but also contradictory. He is on point but leaves enough space too to build our own interpretation about this issue. In other words ‘Migrants’ will stay in our minds and leave a lasting impression. That’s what good films do.”

Special Mention:

“We decided to give a special mention to ‘Haboo’  because we found it to be a very sensitive and touching film with a very clever use of the material it’s talking about as the medium of the film. The ending was especially putting the all film together and shared a light on the phenomenon of the Haboob in south Iran.”

“Sometimes a smell is enough to reactivate memories. Like in our winning film ‘Cha’ by Gagandeep Kalirai, where a cardamom capsule evokes the Sikh massacre in Delhi in 1984. The unagitated yet haunting narrative style convinced us just as much as the elegant lines, the flowing transitions, the interweaving of then and now, animations and photos and, last but not least, the conciliatory ending. At a time when conflicts between different groups of people are fought out with all vehemence, this personal memoir is a reminder to finally overcome these rifts. “

Special Mention:

“Our Special Mention goes to ‘Mon ami qui brille dans la nuit’ by Grégoire De Bernouis, Jawed Boudaoud, Simon Cadilhac and Hélène Ledevin. We liked the literally friendly shine of the main characters, the helpfulness across the borders of being and the combination of animation and real film.”

Winner:

The theme of “Roberto” was very convincing. Although the film has no dialogue, many emotions are conveyed. We understood many feelings through the appropriate music. The twist at the end was very surprising. The message we got was: “Every person is beautiful just the way they are.”

Special Mention: Reven og Nissen / The Tomten and the Fox

The film has a beautiful atmosphere. The characters and the scenery are very lovingly designed. We liked the message of the film: Don’t always think about yourself, but also care about others!

Special Mention: Les Chaussures de Louis / Louis’ Shoes

The film is very lovingly designed. Sharing the mind of an autistic person with the audience is also a very beautiful idea. It can help to understand autistic people better. In addition, the topic is conveyed very well through the images.

‘Flower Duet’ by Haemin Ko has realised the mood of the given song very aesthetically. Film composer Yin Lu also managed to perfectly integrate the main theme of Leo Delibes Song ‘Flower Duet’ into the soundtrack. We are pleased to present the ‘New World Classic Animation Award’ to Haemin Ko, as image and sound create a beautiful symbiosis and perfectly underline the drama of the ephemeral.

Special Mention:

As a counterpoint, we would like to give a ‘Special Mention’ to the short film ‘Abudabude’ by Kim Ngyuen. Naïve animation meets classical music, as well as not quite adult content. This entertains and provokes in equal parts. Amoeba copulations in Tchaikovsy’s ‘Nutcracker’ rhythm, including the inevitable climax … definitely worth a mention.

Endzone is a building strategy game set in a post-apocalyptic world. After humans had destroyed their planet’s livelihood through a nuclear disaster, only some survived in underground bunkers. 150 years later, they go back to the surface to start a new life – this is where the story begins. But the traces of destruction are still visible everywhere, the dangers of radiation not yet completely disappeared.
The strategy-building game by the Wiesbaden-based studio Gentlymad is characterised by numerous visual details as well as technical features that allow good accessibility despite complexity. The jury is amazed by such a complex work, that sums up to a whole in both micro and macro aspects. Every aspect of the game contributes to the atmosphere, from the delicate swaying of trees up to massive thunderstorms.
Due to the multitude of playful possibilities and the steadily increasing level of difficulty, players are challenged above all strategically. Different scenarios also offer various narrative approaches, which are reinforced by the character design. The result is an willfull, yet a varied strategy-building game with survival characteristics – that is convincing both – on the gameplay and visual level.

Special Mention:

Lost Ember tells the story of a soul who uncovers the history of a perished culture. In a hybrid manner, somewhere between game and film, the player discovers a vast and impressively crafted world, allowing them to look back in time at certain spots. Mostly in the shape of a wolf, the player has the opportunity to hijack the fauna, and make use of the special abilities of several animals’. This creates a wonderful degree of freedom, because every player is invited to explore the virtual nature in a way that they prefer – including the wide view through the eyes of a bird or shoveling through the earth.
Lost Ember convinces as solid team work for a rounded and well balanced gaming experience. The jury praises that the studio succeeds well in transporting the calm and mystical atmosphere of the story, and realizing it consequently. This is for the visuals as well as for the sound and gameplay, which draws the player into the world immediately, and carries them lightheartedly through the game. Thereby, the character design is reduced enough to capture the player’s imagination: The protagonist remains silent, while the narrator has no body. This leaves, besides all visual opulence, enough white space for one’s own interpretation.